How Much Water Should I Drink A Day?

I get asked a lot – how much water should I drink a day for weight loss? I get several e-mails, comments and messages both here and on my Facebook page each day asking it over and over again. Water is a subject I like to talk about, because when it comes to weight loss, water is the #1 best and easiest tool you can use.

Before I go into how much water should you drink a day, I’d like to discuss the benefits of drinking water. I’ll also explain how much water should you drink a day and also how to drink more water every day.

Benefits of Drinking Water

Why is water important? What does water do for the body? Besides tasting great, studies have proven that drinking water naturally boosts your metabolism (1) along with many additional benefits of drinking water, including:

Special Tip: When it comes to weight loss and better health, drinking water is one of the easiest things you can do to improve your chances of weight loss success. I recommend using fruit infused water for a tasty way of turning plain water into a delicious treat you can drink all day long. These detox drinks are perfect to take with you and sip all day as a delicious hydrating treat.

How Much Water Should I Drink A Day?

For a healthy adult, the USDA recommends you drink one quart of water (0.94 liters) daily for every 50 pounds (22.6 kilograms) of body weight. Your recommended daily water intake depends on: age; gender; weight; health; level of physical activity; foods eaten; medications taken; weather, and other factors, but that is a good estimate.

How much water should i drink to lose weight? Drinking a gallon of water a day, or 4 liters, is what I recommend to people who are trying to lose weight. A gallon of water a day helps keep you full, flush your system, increase your metabolism, and other benefits of drinking water.

And for those of you that are wondering how many oz in a gallon of water? It’s 128, which is roughly 10 glasses of water. For our friends who use the metric system and wonder how many oz in a liter? One US fluid ounce is .029 liters. A gallon of water a day is 3.78 liters of water.

If you want to really ensure you’re drinking a gallon of water a day, try getting a 1 gallon water bottle and fill it each morning. If you finish it before bed every night, you know you’ve done your job. One gallon of water a day will get you moving along well to your weight loss goals.

How Do I Drink More Water?

I know drinking a gallon of water a day sounds like a lot to drink, here are 6 tips to make drinking more water easier:

Add fruit to your water, I have a number of fruit infused water recipes you can check out or create your own. Using frozen fruit is more fun and delicious than ice cubes. I have a friend who loves the berry mix in the frozen fruit section, she adds it to her water.

Set an alarm on your phone to remind you to drink a bottle of water, this is great for people who have a busy schedule or who just forget.

Drink two 8 oz glasses of water with each meal. That gets you 1/2 of the way there for the day.

Get a 24 oz water bottle (or which ever medium sized bottle you like best) and drink a little over 5 a day you are done, that for me is the easiest way. I drink one with each meal and carry it with me all day. It is so easy and most days I drink 6 or 7 exceeding my water intake goal for the day.

Tally it on your food journal or planner. I did this religiously for a while when I first started on my weight loss journey, I kept a food journal on my fridge with the calorie count and at the top I tallied how many glasses of water. It actually kept me from snacking too, I would see the food journal and instead of grabbing a snack I would tally my water, pour myself a glass and walk away.

Fizzy water is one of my favorite ways to drink water, and I love it when a restaurant has Club Soda on the unlimited Fountain Sodas. Sometimes I put my fizzy water in a wineglass at dinner and sip it like I would sip wine. Guilt free and fun! Add fruit and make your own sodas like my Strawberry Lime Spritzer.

Water Intoxication – How Much Water is Too Much?

Water has a ton of healthful benefits, but can you drink too much water? In very rare cases, drinking too much water can be a bad thing. If you drink an extreme amount of water in a short time, the sodium levels in your blood can drop to dangerously low levels and cause a condition called water intoxication, also known as water poisoning or hyperhydration. (2)

It’s a dangerous condition that can sometimes be fatal. Infants and young children can be especially susceptible because of their tiny size and low body mass.

Experts say it would take drinking “gallons and gallons” of water in a very short time to cause water poisoning. The expert opinion on how much water to drink a day is to only drink as much as you can sweat out, and always drink only as much as your kidneys can process. If your urine is almost clear you should cut back on the amount of water you’re drinking. Listen to your body and don’t drink more than you feel comfortable.

More Water Related Weight Loss Tips:

If you are hungry and want a snack go drink two 8 oz glasses of water and wait 15 minutes. If you are still hungry then your body needs food and you should have a healthy snack, if not good for you! You just saved yourself some calories, use that surplus to enjoy a nice glass of wine with dinner or to shave 200 calories or more off your daily total.

How many bottles of water should you drink per day? Drink two to three 8 oz bottles or glasses of water or one 24 oz water bottle before you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. You will be fuller and eat less, therefore saving calories. Ideally we should all only eat 75% of what is on our plates anyway.

Tea counts!! Going to Starbucks with your friends? Order a tea!! You can count it as water and your beverage will be zero calories. Most independent coffee houses have their own specialty teas, once I had a coconut tea, it was so delicious and much better than my husband’s 500+ calorie coffee drink!

Once you start drinking a gallon of water a day you will notice you are more thirsty and will actually crave it and your body will help you along if you can stick to it for a week or two.

Our bodies need water to stay cool and hydrated, you will also notice clearer skin, stronger hair and nails and best of all water fills you up and it is zero calories!

My other three tips for people who are starting their weight loss journey:

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